Flyers taking no chances with waiver draft

By Al Alven

October 3rd, 2002

The Philadelphia Flyers’ list of protected/unprotected players for the annual waiver draft indicates that the team plans to play it safe this year. There are no surprises on the list and – most notably – no projected NHLers exposed by the organization.

The draft will be held at noon on Friday. The event consists of a 14-selection first round (featuring only teams that missed the playoffs last season), followed by an indefinite number of subsequent rounds. The draft simply ends when a round is completed without any team claiming a player.

In accordance with usual drafting standards, all selection positions are determined by the reverse order of 2001-02 team point totals. Thus, the Atlanta Thrashers have the first pick, while the Detroit Red Wings will draft out of the #30 slot. The Flyers hold the #26 selection in rounds following the preliminary round.

No team can lose more than three players in the draft, unless it chooses to expose additional players. Each team’s three-player loss limit will increase by the number of draft claims it makes against other teams.

*Note that Pavel Brendl, Robert Esche, Guillaume Lefebvre, Dennis Seidenberg, Radovan Somik, Bruno St. Jacques and Justin Williams are all exempt from the waiver draft. Each of these players falls under league guidelines for immunity for not having played a certain amount of league games in accordance with their respective age.

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Notes

· Five of the six players left unprotected by the Flyers are minor league veterans ticketed to play for the American Hockey League’s Philadelphia Phantoms this season. The other – forward Tomas Divisek – isn’t even playing hockey on this continent at the current time. The former prospect signed with Pardubice of the Czech Extraleague in July.